Helping get through to someone with mental health issues

[1bub1pup]

I need help getting through to someone who is having a mental health crisis and get them to come home. The person going to talk to them is in danger of making the situation worse and I am so far out of my depth.
Is there a service I can talk to who would give me advice on what to say?
I wrote a whole post about the problem then deleted it because I was worried the person would find it and it would blow the whole thing.

You could contact Rethink, they're a mental health organisation who have a good helpline.

You may not be able to make them come home if they don't want to.

But you can try to suggest the right support. Is the person currently under MH care? If the person going to speak to them may make the situation worse can you ask them not to go?

Do you think the person is in immediate danger of harm? Or are they somewhere safe?

If they are safe then there's a different urgency level.

@verycloakanddaggers yes this is my concern, they are an adult so can do what they like.

They are completely alone and have no support in the country they are in. On its own you wouldn't describe that as dangerous - As there a sensible person normally But they're having some sort of episode. It's completely out of the blue. No previous conditions or anything.
The messages I'm getting from them are really scaring me.
I think we might have a chance to get them home but need a plan of action for the best chance if that makes sense.

This sounds really frightening OP - is it your adult child? Can you just drop everything and go out there?
This page might be helpful:
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/articles/how-support-someone-mental-health-problem

Not mine but their parent has gone.
I would have but can't leave pr travel with my young DD. Thank you for these suggestions.

Can you say what country this is happening in? Someone will be able give an appropriate response.

He's in Cambodia we are from the UK. It's my DB and my DM has gone out there. She's met up with him but he's not making any sense.
I didn't want to give this much information but I am absolutely desperate. He says he won't come home. He sounds completely delusional.

Is it possible to contact the British Embassy out there? Or the travel health insurance people?

Are there any ex-pat organisations out there who can help? sometimes the Embassies are overwhelmed but certainly where we are (Europe, admittedly) the ex-pat communities are superb.

Where in cambodia is he, there are several mh hospitals which she could take him to

In Phnom pehn
The actual embassy is closed but I've been on the phone a few times to the British consulate in London and they have just advised ringing and ambulance.

If it's totally out of the blue it could be he is medically unwell, is he with other people, where is he staying, whatever has happened he needs medical help, are they near a doctor or hospital.. does he have health insurance. Flying someone home who is acutely unwell and delusional isn't easy to arrange.

There are several hospitals in phenomenal pehn, the embassy are right, she needs to get medical help fir him and either get him to a hospital or ring an ambulance so they can help him

Has he ever had anything like this before? I'm just thinking it will be a LOT easier to get him help if he already has a diagnosis or any usual medication that helps. Also I'd be wary of the quality of hospitals in Cambodia, it's a very undeveloped country. If she can get him to go with her overland to Thailand he'd get much better treatment.

Has he travel insurance? If yes, that should be top of your list to call. If not, your options may be limited.

https://www.royalphnompenhhospital.com/center-and-clinic/8

https://cambodiatravel.com/hospitals-and-medical-centers-in-phnom-penh/

https://tpocambodia.org/tpo-treatment-center/

Thank you so much for all these suggestions.
I've managed to speak to my mum again and told her to get reception to call an ambulance but honestly worried she's not coping well either and she thinks they won't do it. The tour company have now said they will send someone over who can help.
Unfortunately they no so little about his travel plans that we don't know if he has travel insurance. Of course I would like to think so but I wouldn't know how to get the details.
He sounds like he's completely out of it. I'm really worried about them both .

@Preppercorn no nothing like this.
Thank you for the information on Thailand I will pass it on when we get a moment.

Is he with a tour group on holiday?

@MissMoneyFairy He was but he got "kicked off" and moved to another hotel. We have managed to get on touch with someone from there (they are in a third country).
They have arranged for someone to get a car over there to take him to a Dr but I don't know how they'll get him to go.

I don't think my mum did ask for an ambulance.

Have you actually got direct experience of the Cambodian medical system? Because that first link you posted (I'm not checking the others) doesn't even have a single psychiatrist at the entire hospital. A lot of East Asian countries don't believe mental health is a real thing beyond basic anxiety and depression and they can demonise or pathologise problems like delusions and you can end up in hospital for a very long time or getting treatments no self-respecting western doctor would contemplate. A lot of them don't define mental illness as a medical emergency.

Source: I have bipolar disorder and I have travelled for years all over East Asia, including to Cambodia. When you have an episode of this severity, more often than not they can't actually help you. For example, I had to travel 4 hours once to get to a hospital that could actually help with the onset of a bipolar psychotic manic episode and that was after a 2 hour journey to the first place, who were the ones who told me to go to the next one. Luckily, I am very good at noticing the onset of them and getting help but OP's brother is in the middle of an episode (of something, I'm not saying it's bipolar but whatever it is sounds serious) and needs to not go on a wild goose chase.

Do you know which hotel he is in, can you contact them for an update. If he was part of a pre booked tour group that was arranged in the country he left from there might be a record of any insurance he has, airlines and tour companies do sometimes gave that information.

I have sent links to several hospitals including mh. We don't know what's caused this, he has no previous history, it could be a medical issue like dehydration, infection, drugs, alcohol, or it could be a mh issue, only a doctor would know and no I haven't had direct experience of the medical system but just trying to offer op a bit if help and signposting.

@Preppercorn I'm sorry you had to go through this.That sounds awful.
I really don't know what we are going to do. We can't convince him out of the hotel let alone get him to another country for help. And I went certainly can't convince him to come home in his state.